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Interbike cracks down on consumer entries

LAS VEGAS, NV (BRAIN) — Interbike organizers are making it a bit harder for consumers to attend the show, which opens next Wednesday at the Sands Convention Center here.

The new registration procedures are "an attempt to both reduce the amount of consumers walking the show floor, and improve the quality of conversations manufacturers and retailers are having over the course of the show," organizers said in a statement this week.

Retailers can register online. To do so, they are required to upload two credentials, either invoices showing purchases of finished brand name goods in the cycling or fitness industry made within the last six months; a business card that includes your current company address; a business license indicating you are a retail business; or a letter of Intent from an attorney or bank on official letterhead stating the intent to start a new retail business in the cycling/fitness industry (this is acceptable for new businesses only).

Retailer registration also requires a $35 registration fee.

The requirements on not much different from what has been asked of first-time attendees in recent years. What is different this year is that repeat visitors are being required to re-qualify themselves. In prior years, once a retailer and staff were in the Interbike registration system, they were issued new passes each year even if the shop had gone out of business.

"What we are cracking down on is the re-qualification," said Justin Gottlieb, Interbike's communications and PR director.

Show director Pat Hus said Interbike wanted to make sure only qualified buyers were at Interbike.

"While the new registration process might take a few minutes longer than the past, we felt it was necessary to put in place," Hus said. "It’s our job to do this kind of homework for both our retailers and our exhibitors. At the end of the day it’s not necessarily about the quantity of conversations you have at a show, but rather it’s about the quality.

Hus said retail registations are tracking inline with 2011 data, signaling that that the same number (or possibly more) retail locations will attend.